The Science of Cookies (2024)

FAQs

What is the science behind making cookies? ›

As the butter melts, the cookie's structure loosens, so that the water in the dough is able to combine with the baking soda, dissolving it. The baking soda then reacts to the acidic components present in brown sugar, creating gases that cause the cookie to rise.

Cookies as a Model for Fusion

Fusion occurs when heat is added to atoms, giving them enough energy to collide and stick together. In this case, the microwave will add the energy to heat the “atoms” (cookies).

The rise: At about 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the water in the dough turns into steam. The cookie starts to rise as the vapors push through the dough. Eventually, the baking soda or powder starts to break down into carbon dioxide gas, which raise up the cookie farther.

While baking, the heat allows for the sucrose (sugar) to break down into glucose and fructose. This causes a polymer chain which allows for the cookie to have a light brown, shiny crust. When the sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) absorbs heat, a chemical reaction occurs – 2NaHCO₃ –> Na₂CO₃ + H₂O + CO₂.

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Sugar Reacts With Heat and Proteins to Create the Perfect Crust. You know your cake is done baking when you pull it out of the oven and see that perfect golden brown crust on top. That sweet, toasted crust is the result of a chemical reaction between sugars and proteins called the Maillard reaction.

Physics tells us that heat causes the cookies to expand. This is because gasses within the cookies such as carbon dioxide increase as temperature increases. Then, the structural elements like egg and flour proteins form the shape of the cookies.

Physical properties of cookies. The physical properties (weight loss, diameter, thickness, spread ratio, and crumb hardness) of cookies are tabulated in Table 3 .

In standard cookie recipes, the flour (combined with a leavening/salt mixture) is the last thing added to the recipe; once that comes into contact with your wet ingredients, it starts to form gluten bonds that give structure and texture to those cookies.

Egg whites entrap more air while contributing more water, encouraging steam and gluten formation: perfect conditions for lean cookies that are thick and puffy. Cakey. Yolks cut the water and throw in fat, hindering both gluten development and aeration, producing cookies that are dense, tender, and rich.

What does brown sugar do to cookies? ›

In that role, white sugar aerates the dough when creamed with butter for thick and puffy cookies. Brown sugar, meanwhile, is dense and compacts easily, creating fewer air pockets during creaming—that means that there's less opportunity to entrap gas, creating cookies that rise less and spread more.

Caramelization – Just as the cookie is almost finished baking, two chemical reactions happen – caramelization & Maillard reaction. As sugars in the dough break down (especially around the edges & the hot bottom), they transform into a brown, fragrant caramel gold adding to the flavours of the cookie.

Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you're more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies.

The foundation of any cookie recipe consists of five types of ingredients: fat, sugar, flour, a rising agent, and a binding agent. Fat is added for flavor and controls how chewy or crunchy the cookie is. More fat = a chewier cookie, less fat = a crunchier cookie.

Several promoters of cookie diets say their protein content helps to curb hunger, and two -- Smart for Life and Dr. Siegal's -- chalk this up, at least partly, to the particular amino acids they contain. A number of studies imply that this claim could be true.

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